Yesterday my parents came to visit me at the parish. We decided to devote the day to Kansas history by going to the Kansas Museum of History here in Topeka. I believe I had been to this museum when I was in grade school, but I don’t remember. For those who did not grow up in Kansas or are otherwise unfamiliar with Kansas lore, here is a picture our state mammal.

This is of course the great American Bison (scientific name bison bison). This is our state mammal and not our state animal because, as every good Kansan knows, the three-toed box turtle is our state reptile and the honey bee is our state insect. Did you notice the fine depiction of the state flower in the background? The prairie dogs are of course cute, but not official anything’s.

Here is another shot of a buffalo outside with a Kansa Indian from which the name of our great state is taken:

Here is a rare close-up of me with a subspecies of the majestic, yet friendly and petable, state mammal, the bison bison stonis statuis

After our time at the Museum of Kansas history I got to add my contribution to this Tunink family Kansas history “Day O’ Fun”.

Thanks to a very wonderful parishioner I had some very wonderful tickets for the KU game. When I say very wonderful, I can’t emphasize this enough as this picture was taken from my actual seat. I dare say I will never have better seats in Allen Fieldhouse in my life. After so many years of seeing games from the band, this was a real treat. To close out this Kansas History day, I leave you with two of the most important artifacts in Kansas History: